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Protests against ‘Gorilla politics’ may expand to other Slovak towns

The first protest against politicians featured in the Gorilla file held in Bratislava on January 27 was attended by up to 1,000 people but it apparently did not significantly catch the attention of politicians, the Sme daily reported. While demonstrators expressed their dissatisfaction with the current political situation by throwing bananas, eggs and firecrackers in front of the Presidential Palace and the parliament building, several MPs told Sme that they do not consider the demonstration a serious problem.

The first protest against politicians featured in the Gorilla file held in Bratislava on January 27 was attended by up to 1,000 people but it apparently did not significantly catch the attention of politicians, the Sme daily reported. While demonstrators expressed their dissatisfaction with the current political situation by throwing bananas, eggs and firecrackers in front of the Presidential Palace and the parliament building, several MPs told Sme that they do not consider the demonstration a serious problem.

“I can join those who are asking for a fair investigation of every crime,” said the leader of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Mikuláš Dzurinda, as quoted by Sme, adding that he does not view himself as standing on the other side of the barricades even though members of his party are featured in the document codenamed Gorilla that deals with wiretappings that allegedly confirm the influence of the businesspeople on senior representatives of the government between the years 2005 and 2006.

The leader of the opposition Smer party, Robert Fico, said that he will fully respect the protests if it is an initiative of citizens but criticised the fact that the protest, organised via the social network Facebook, was attended by representatives of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) party, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party and the 99 Percent – Civic Voice party.

“It seems that the action had a political undertone,” said Fico, as quoted by Sme.

“Apparently, they mistook the address,” said the spokesperson for Slovakia’s president, Marek Trubač, as quoted by the SITA newswire, in reaction to the protest at which demonstrators threw bananas at the Presidential Palace. He added that if president did not want to investigate the case, he would not have released Karol Mitrík, the current director of the Slovak Information Service (SIS) from his oath of secrecy.

The participants in the first protest against Gorilla initiated a discussion about other demonstrations to be held on January 31 in Trenčín, on February 1 in Ružomberok, and on February 3 in Žilina, Zvolen and Košice. The protestors are demanding fulfilment of ten basic requirements, including completion of the investigation into the Gorilla case, the dismissal of politicians featured in the document, the postponement of the parliamentary elections to September 2012 and abolishment of immunity for MPs, SITA wrote.